SBIR Phase I: Engineering process traits in biomass for lignin degradation to improve ethanol production

这项小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段研究调查了将具有加工特性的生物质工程用于乙醇生产的可行性。生物质将被转化为产生木质素降解酶，并通过生物开关进行修饰，使其在作物生长期间保持不活跃。收获后，这些酶可以从木质素结构中被诱导激活，以实现更有效的降解，从而比目前的乙醇生产具有显著的成本优势。纤维素生物质是一种很有吸引力的生物燃料原料。然而，转化过程需要苛刻的操作条件和昂贵的酶，导致高昂的成本。嵌入的酶将实现有效的加工，而不需要严格的材料要求，从而能够以更低的成本生产乙醇。生物开关将防止对正常作物发展的干扰。第一阶段的研究目标是建立玉米酶的文库，并筛选其在玉米中的表达和特性。这项研究结果将应用于第二阶段的目标，即用开关修饰的木质纤维降解酶生产玉米工厂，用于从整个玉米工厂生产乙醇。这项研究将对美国乙醇工业产生重大影响，美国乙醇工业的市场规模为100亿美元，并通过降低生产成本迅速增长。目前，玉米粒占生产成本的70%以上，最近谷物价格上涨降低了利润率。使整个玉米工厂能够转化为乙醇，将以较低的成本提供更充足的原料。这种原料的利用将有助于农村发展，减少温室气体排放，并减少美国对外国石油的依赖。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research investigates the feasibility of engineering biomass with processing traits for ethanol production. Biomass will be transformed to produce lignin-degrading enzymes, modified with a biological switch to remain inactive during crop growth. After harvest, the enzymes can be inducibly activated from within the lignin structure to enable more effective degradation, allowing for significant cost advantages over current ethanol production. Cellulosic biomass is an attractive feedstock for biofuels. However, the conversion process requires severe operating conditions and expensive enzymes, leading to prohibitive costs. Embedded enzymes will enable effective processing without the stringent materials requirements, allowing for lower-cost ethanol production. The biological switch will prevent the disruption of normal crop development. The research objectives for Phase I are to create a library of the enzymes and screen their expression and characteristics in corn. The results will be applied to the Phase II goal of producing a corn plant with switch-modified lignocellulosic degrading enzymes for ethanol production from the entire corn plant.This research will have a significant impact the U.S. ethanol industry which has a market size of $10 billion and is growing rapidly by reducing the costs of production. Currently, corn grain accounts for over 70% of production costs, and recently higher prices for grain have lowered margins. Enabling the conversion of the whole corn plant into ethanol will provide for a more plentiful feedstock at a lower cost. The utilization of this feedstock would contribute to rural development, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced U.S. dependence on foreign petroleum.